Category: Education

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Face to Face with PIT BULLS: The Real Deal

I saw this recently and I heard subsequently that it had been cited in a radio program:

Ten Commandments of Pit Bull Ownership

  1. Thou shalt NEVER trust thy Pit Bull not to fight
  2. Thou shalt contain thy Pit Bull securely when not supervised by an adult
  3. Thou shalt NEVER leave thy adult Pit Bull alone and unsupervised with another dog
  4. Thou SHALT attend obedience classes most faithfully with thy Pit Bull
  5. Thou SHALT keep thy Pit Bull socialized with ALL KINDS of people
  6. Thy Pit Bull wilt NEVER be allowed off-leash in a public place
  7. Thy Pit Bull wilt NEVER be allowed to roam free in thy neighborhood, EVER!
  8. Thou SHALT take thy well trained Pit Bull out in public and show him/her off – on leash for good breed PR!
  9. Thy Pit Bull shalt go forth into the world as an ambassador of the pit bull breed
  10. THOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY WRONG DONE BY THY DOGS!

I thought I would use these ‘commandments’ as a framework for an analysis of the breed from a real-world perspective rather than a sensationalist one, since a list like the one above reinforces all the preconceptions about the breed and causes people to fear them. Continue reading “Face to Face with PIT BULLS: The Real Deal”

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BREAKING the CYCLE: The Animal Welfare Imperative

‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’ – Benjamin Franklin

As a strategist and problem solver in the Corporate world, I was always somewhat dumbfounded by the degree to which problem-solving was directed rather simplistically at symptoms rather than root causes, effectively only solving part of the problem, or solving it only for a short time, or causing other problems that negated the solution anyway.

Animal Welfare SA suffers the same malaise. Many organisations and individuals focus on rescue, rehabilitation and rehoming, and of course there is a necessity that somebody do this, since there are so many homeless animals. This is an attempt at finding, for each animal, a ‘cure’ – a home in which they can live happy lives.  If we recruited more people to welfare, could we home more animals? That very much depends Continue reading “BREAKING the CYCLE: The Animal Welfare Imperative”

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PYOMETRA and the benefit of spaying your female dog

The word pyometra can be divided into two root words

  • Pyo means pus
  • Metra refers to the uterus

Pyometra starts after a dog goes through a heat cycle, usually within about 3 to 5 weeks

Spaying is the treatment of choice

Prognosis is usually favorable, providing that the patient is not profoundly ill

Anatomy

  • The uterus is a Y-shaped organ that has two horns
  • An ovary is located at the end of each horn of the uterus

Pathophysiology

  • The word pyometra can be divided into two root words

o        Pyo means pus

o        Metra refers to the uterus

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All about PARVO…

WHAT IS CANINE PARVO VIRUS?

EVERYTHING IS CONTAMINATED – WHAT NOW?

CHOICE OF PRODUCTS

Parvovirus is a HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS virus that attacks the intestines and causes sloughing of the inner layers of the intestine. The virus is minute but extremely hardy and can survive in the environment for months or even years.

WHO IS AT RISK?

Parvovirus is contagious to dogs only — not to cats or people. This potentially deadly disease is usually more severe in young dogs less than 6 months of age, old dogs and breeds such as Rottweilers and Continue reading “All about PARVO…”